Some hard imaging configurations include liquid and dry toner imaging systems. An exemplary electrophotographic (LEP) process may include a plurality of processing steps to form hard images using either liquid or dry toner. For example, the photoconductor may be electrically charged in preparation of receiving an image. A light source, such as a laser, may be used to discharge selective charged surface portions of the photoconductor which provides a latent image corresponding to an image to be formed. The latent image may be developed using liquid or dry toner and the developed image may be subsequently transferred by direct and/or intermediate transferring to media. Toner which remains upon the surface of the photoconductor after the transfer step may be cleaned by a cleaning station.
Arrangements which operate according to the above-described process are relatively complex, involve sophisticated and/or relatively expensive components, may suffer from registration problems during imaging and have associated speed limitations and/or a comparatively short lifetime of use.
At least some aspects of the disclosure are directed towards improved apparatus and methods of implementing hard imaging operations.